He Was
by love from elysium
Summary: A brotherhood of four rivaled by none, a romance that went from hate to a consuming love in a season, and a war that would tear apart the lives of those who had hardly lived. But mostly, this is the story of a boy who became a man. He was in love with the world. He was the meaning of the word rebellion. He was a brother by oath. He was her life. The classic marauder love story.
1. Prologue, He Was

He Was

**Prologue:**

He was that cool breeze coming in the window at summer's end.

He was the spark that ignited the raging flames that still burn.

He was the light that could be found even in the last breath.

He was never too proud to be consummately impressed.

He was the bitterness in an ever pending goodbye.

He was happy in the pouring rain and blazing sun.

He was the boy who never wanted to grow up.

He was the meaning of the word rebellion.

He was as constant as the ocean's tides.

He was that ever resounding laughter.

He was a free spirit ever in bloom.

He was in love with the world.

He was the whispering night.

He was a brother by oath.

He was her life.

He was.


	2. Chapter 1, Turning Point

**N/A: First off, welcome! I love that you're here and I hope that you'll come to love to be here also! I've been writing Harry Potter fanfiction for ages and this is my second attempt at writing the "classic" marauder era story. It's been done so many times by hp fic writers and I really wanted to get it exactly right for how I imagined it. So, when the first one wasn't working out I decided to delete it and let things lie. Now though, I'm back at it and already I'm soooooo much more happy with how it's turning out. The story will be as cannon as possible and I will update once a week!**

**Disclaimer: I siriusly don't own this world of wonder. It belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling**

**Thanks to my lovely beta, teddylupin-snape**

* * *

**Chapter One: **

Turning Point

_or_

The Uninvited Guests

_Rise up and take the power back,  
It's time the fat cats had a heart attack,  
You know that their time's coming to an end,  
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend_

_ ~Muse, Uprising_

Dry hands untied the rolled parchment from the owl's foot. The bird hooted for a nibble of corn but the young man was preoccupied. He recognized the writing scrawled neatly across the scroll, yellowed from travel. It was Lily's writing but not her owl who had delivered it. Since when did Lily write to him? James had only, with the last school year, managed to earn her respect much less choke out a proper conversation. He charmed the twine from the paper with a muttered "_Diffindo_" feeling too impatient to do the task manually. He unrolled the paper and read quickly.

_ James, _

_I hope your summer is going nicely. I can't believe we've been home for a month already. I hope the weather has been nice where you are. My family and I went down to the southern coast for a week and it rained almost every day. But what can you expect? It's England in the summertime. It was still nice though. Marlene's staying with us now that we're home until school starts._

_ Anyhow, the reason I am writing was because I recently received a letter from Hogwarts giving me the position of Head Girl. I assumed, no offence intended, that the Head Boy would be Remus but when I wrote him he said that he only had received a letter inviting him to maintain his position as Prefect. Since you are the only other male Prefect in Gryffindor going into seventh year you must be Head Boy, right? If not I'm very confused about the situation. Write me as soon as you can with an answer. Once again, I hope you and Sirius are well and haven't done too anything reckless this summer. _

_Sincerely, _

_ Lily_

She had signed her name with a flourish like she always did. As James hunted around the room for a scrap of parchment and a quill that wasn't broken beyond use he heard Sirius outside the room.

"James," he called, letting himself in. "Anna says dinners on the table. Whoa, what's Marly's owl doing here."

"Letter from Lily," James said briefly, clearly preoccupied with the task at hand. "Tell Mum that I'll be out in a second. I just have to send a response."

"Since when does Lily Evans write you during the holidays?" Sirius asked, not bothering to hide his surprise.

"Since now. Tell Mum I'll be there in a minute."

"What did she want?" Sirius picked up the scroll. James snatched it back. "She wanted to know if I'm the new Head Boy. Now get out, you git!"

"Really, James? Because I'd say that's an awful lot of parchment for one simple question. Give it here. I want to read it."

"No, I don't want you to," James said, having finally found fresh parchment and a somewhat useable quill.

"Why not?" Sirius snorted. "All it says according to you is ʻAre you Head Boy?ʼ"

"Forget it," James huffed, recapping the ink bottle. "Let's just go eat for now."

Sirius rolled his eyes and the boys left the room taking the stairs down two at a time. A series of doors and hallways later that were so much a habit to them that it did not require any thought to find themselves out in the garden where the table was set and Mr. and Mrs. Potter were sitting patiently.

"So nice of you to join us, James," Mrs. Potter said with one raised eyebrow but a smile on her lips.

"Anna, I _told _him dinner was on the table," Sirius declared. "But apparently a lengthy letter from his girlfriend was more important than your delicious meal." He was sporting one of his typical grins.

"Well thank you, Sirius." Mrs. Potter said laughing lightly at the typical antics.

"Girlfriend? James, I didn't know there was lady in your life!" Mr. Potter teased.

"She's not my girlfriend," James said.

"What's her name, Sirius?" Mr. Potter continued as the boys took their seats at the table.

"Well Chris, I believe she goes by the name of Lily Evans."

"Lily Evans, she's a lovely girl, isn't she? A prefect like you James, am I right?" asked Mrs. Potter while she ate.

"_Yes_ Mum, she is a prefect. And _no_, she is not my girlfriend nor is the letter she wrote me lengthy. She was simply asking if I was Head Boy."

"Sure she was," Sirius cut in, his fork halfway to his mouth.

"Did you write her back telling her you were?"

"No, Mum! I didn't have the chance. Not with Sirius pestering me to come down to eat."

Mr. Potter chuckled. "Someone's in a mood, I see."

"I'm not in a mood it's just that-"

There was a loud crack and the scrape of chair legs on stone. Mr. Potter was on his feet, wand out so quickly that the noise had barely subsided. An instant later Mrs. Potter, Sirius and James were identically posed before James had a true understanding of what was going on. As the scene settled he found that there was a semicircle of five masked Death Eaters facing back at them. They too had their wands out. It was probably only seconds but to James it felt like it was minutes before there was any action. Mr. Potter was the one to break the stillness.

"Anna, go inside and take the kids." His voice was calm but final.

"Dad, no. We're fine we can handle this," James barked louder than he had expected of himself. Mr. Potter, though seemed not to hear him.

"Anna." This time there was an urgency infiltrating the icy calm that had been in his voice a moment earlier. Mrs. Potter hesitated, her mouth open slightly as if about to speak, looking from the five surrounding Death Eaters to her husband.

The Death Eaters until this moment had remained unmoving. The medium height one standing second from the left spoke.

"We wish only to converse with Christopher Potter. That is all. If it goes smoothly then we will depart without a fuss. If not..." The Death Eater's unspoken words hung in the air. Mr. and Mrs. Potter's eyes met and she nodded discreetly. Then Mr. Potter looked at his son.

"James."

"Dad, no! Absolutely not. I-"

"James, you and Sirius will follow your mother inside." James opened his mouth but Mr. Potter held up his hand wearing a look of warning that James had never seen on his face before. "This is _not_ negotiable, James."

Clearly upset but out of options, James followed Sirius and his mother into the house. In the sun room onlooking the garden James turned around and stood watching his father and the five Death Eaters. But this only lasted a second before Mr. Potter aimed a spell at the glass which slowly faded black making it no more transparent than a wall. The last thing he saw in his father's eyes was a cold anger. He and Sirius did not speak as they went through the doorway into a lavish and large parlour full of cream-coloured furniture. Mrs. Potter was very occupied. A silvery fox was slinking around the room. Her patronus shooed them out as Mrs. Potter sent message after message by patronus, to whom James could not tell by his mother's low voice and fast words, They were enough to advert him that he and Sirius were not wanted here either. Instead the pair walked quickly into the adjacent room which was much smaller holding only a few book shelves, two armchairs, a set of trunks, and a fireplace. After James had come in Sirius shut the door behind him. James paced back and forth his mind obviously absent from his body. He started when Sirius gripped his arm tightly though not painfully.

"What the hell are they here for?" Sirius hissed.

"I don't know. They wanted my dad. But why just my dad? I don't understand why he would make us leave. We should have fought. It was nearly a fair fight. Four on five, we could have handled it, Sirius. I think we should go back out." James was already halfway to the door.

"No James," He had never seen Sirius like this, not a trace of a smile on his lips. His were eyes genuinely hard for the first time.

"They have got my dad out there!" It was a fraction away from yelling. Sirius, though, was no longer calm.

"When will you understand? They have got my dad out there as well!" he roared. "But Chris wants us inside, James. You know your father has never underestimated your abilities with your wand but he also knows when to fight and when to hold off and approach things from a different angle. So when Chris tells us to go in the house, we're bloody well going to go inside the house."

"Do you honestly think that he would let us stay if he thought that one of us would end up killed?" He was now also yelling. "If there were a hundred Death Eaters standing in my backyard wanting a fight, he would still tell us and mum to get in the effing house because he doesn't want to see us dead!"

"James do you know why the hell there's five Death Eaters in your backyard because I for one have no idea. Your dad on the other hand seemed to have some understanding of what is going on right now."

"THIS IS A WAR FOR MERLIN SAKE! THEY AREN'T HERE TO HAVE A CUP OF TEA!"James made for the door but Sirius stood in his way. James closed his eyes.

"Sirius, get out of my way."

"No."

He slammed Sirius against the door, pushing him hard on either shoulder. Sirius yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

James' wand flew from his front pocket and Sirius caught it in the air, immediately saying another spell locking the door from the inside. James slammed his fist against the door right next to Sirius' head.

"You bastard!"

"James," Sirius said almost sadly. James was breathing heavily but after a moment he seemed to have calmed. He paced the room back and forth slowly. Sirius leaned against the wall, he too lost in his thoughts.

And they waited.

After fifteen minutes James hadn't stopped pacing but Sirius had returned him his wand. After half an hour in the room Mrs. Potter's voice was heard outside the door.

"I'm coming in." James turned to her expectantly, almost violently. "I've alerted the Aurors at the Minstry who I'm most certain we can trust. They are keeping the area under close watch and are ready to disapparate here at the first sign of trouble."

"The first sign of trouble was thirty bloody minutes ago! Tell them to get there fat arses here right now!"

"James, enough," Mrs. Potter said curtly.

After almost an hour a patronus finally came from Mr. Potter. "They're gone. You can come out now."

Mrs. Potter let out a sigh. James, though, had already swung open the door and was running to the garden in the back. Sirius was right at his heels and Mrs. Potter behind him. When James reached the sun room the windows were no longer black and he saw his father looking pale sitting at the table in front of a forgotten dinner, wine glass in hand.

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"James," Mr. Potter said closing his eyes.

"No, LISTEN TO ME! Five Death Eater show up in our garden and all you do is tell us to go inside! What are you playing at? At least four on five is almost a fair fight! But, not for the Auror Mr. Potter. That's your problem, Dad. You always have to work alone. You wouldn't even let Mum stay and she's a bloody _ministry trained_ Auror! You always have to do the things exactly as you want them to be! Well why not the practical way for once! I'm seventeen, Dad. I'm not useless. I can fight! I-"

"I know that James." Mrs. Potter walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Sit down, please. Both of you."

James threw his hands in the air, feeling beyond words. Sirius met his eyes, trying to convey something without speaking. "Give him an opportunity to explain first, mate," was all he said with a heartening pat on his back. James knew though that he meant so much more than he said. He nodded at his best friend and they resumed their places around the table where they had been seated just an hour ago although it felt like it had been days.

During Sirius and James' exchange, Mrs. Potter had pulled her chair over to sit beside her husband. He had his hands on either side of her face and was whispering something to her. Sirius, obviously embarrassed to be an onlooker of such a private moment instead settled his gaze on the unused napkin setting. James, however sat back in his chair, still fuming. He watched the exchange with an expression of disdain ever-present in his features. After a few minutes, Mr. Potter fell silent and took his wife's hand in his as he turned to the two young men before him.

"I can't expect you to understand everything that just happened. I know it can't make good sense that I sent the three of you inside leaving the Death Eaters alone with me. In any other circumstances, I would not have taken this route. James," He looked at his son as he spoke. "I know you're angry with me. I give you every right to be until I have a chance to explain myself and even then..." He stopped speaking and held his hand to his chest. A look of pain washed into his face.

"Christopher, are you alright?" Mrs. Potter asked him putting a hand to his hand. It took him a moment to respond. "Ughh, yes dear. I just have a-a pain in my chest." After a few more moments he continued.

"The thing you boys need to know is that there are some things that my job requires of me that can be quite burdensome. And in wartime there is no bigger burden than information. Having information, especially that which is meant to be kept secret can be useful but very dangerous as well. Tonight both proved true.

"More often than not, instead of the information that is classified getting leaked, the bearer of the information is found out instead. So, tonight when the Death Eaters showed up I knew immediately that they weren't looking to take lives but rather they were sent to gather information that would be useful to the Dark Lord, more specifically they were looking for me. The beauty, though, of being the bearer of something they value is that it makes me valuable to them as well. Because of this, I knew that there was no way they would kill me before I told them what they wanted. I was safe. You three on the other hand were not. You could have easily been used as a mechanism to force me to tell them what they wanted to know. To them you were disposable. When I sent you inside, James, it was not because I wanted to handle situation on my own. It was because I thought it was in the best interest of all of us."

"What's this information they wanted, then?"

"It is not mine to share, James. I'm sure you understand that."

"No, I don't, actually. I don't understand at all."

"James, Avery made it clear that it was me they were here for. I know that the only thing that is keeping you from accepting this explanation at this point is your own stubbornness."

"You gave it to them, then," James eventually said after a silence.

"Gave them what, James?" Mr. Potter questioned suddenly looking very tired.

"The information they came for. You told them what they wanted to know."

"No." James looked shocked.

"Then how'd you get them to leave?" Suddenly Mr. Potter looked uncomfortable. He twisted the cuff of his sleeve.

"They, Avery, that is, gave me a, uh, an ultimatum of sorts. It's not important. It will work itself out I'm sure." It was clear that he was unwilling to remain on the topic. Mrs. Potter's ears did prick up at this new information though she did not press the topic.

"I'm sure if you asked Teanish in the kitchen for something to eat she'd be pleased to make it for you. I do think this meal is cold now, if not spoiled," Mrs. Potter said.

"It's a shame, dear. It looked delicious," Mr. Potter said to his wife with a soft smile.

"Not to worry," she cooed putting a hand in his hair.

Sirius got up and walked to the door, turning back to wait for James. He got up slowly.

"Thank you, Anna, Chris. Despite everything tonight," Sirius said smoothly. Mrs. Potter smiled slightly at him as the boys went into the house in search of the house elf, Teanish. Predictably, they found her in the kitchen singing to herself as she kneeded a lump of dough.

"Hello my darling Teanish!" Sirius said charmingly announcing himself and James. It was clear from the blush blooming in the elf's cheeks that his charm was not lost on females of other species.

"Master Black, Master Potter, in what ways may I humbly serve you?" The elf said the last bit almost completely upside down while performing a deep bow.

"Unfortunately the dinner you and Mrs. Potter prepared for tonight went cold because of a..uh, unexpected visit. Is there any chance there are some leftovers from lunch or something James and I might have?"

"Master Black, Teanish can prepare you anything you desire if you wish to wait. But immediately, I have only a few things prepared. There are some roast beef sandwiches, potato salad, pasta, or," Teanish added, "I have some batter ready if you wish to wait five minutes for pancakes and hot chocolate."

"Sounds delicious. Pancakes it is, then! You alright with that, mate?"

"Sure," said James, still distant. The boys seated themselves in stools at the bar and watched Teanish set to work. Within seconds there were two steaming cups of chocolate in front of them and the house elf resumed singing to herself Sirius, too picked up the sound making the elf blush even more severely than before. Five minutes later, they were eating pancakes from a stack nearly a foot tall the elf had placed between them before going back to her kneading.

Afterwards the boys made their way to James' room trudging laboriously up three flights of stairs. In all honesty, though, James had two rooms, the one where he slept which was attached to a room in many ways similar to the Gryffindor common room, but a fraction of the size. The latter was the boys' destination. It was equipped with a couch and two large armchairs all of which surrounded a fireplace with a coffee table in front of the hearth. Piles and piles of books were stacked haphazardly onto a book shelf that reached the ceiling with a ladder resting against it required for reaching books on the top shelves during James' under-aged years. Another corner was dedicated to Quidditch paraphernalia. The walls were plastered with posters and banners all worshipping James' favourite team; Pride of Portree. There were old broomsticks, Quidditch ball cases, broom maintenance kits, and James' pride and joy hanging on the wall, his Nimbus _1000_.

They went into the room and sat down around the fire. Sirius expected James to be as silent as he had been since they had come inside the house.

"I don't think we should go back," he said.

"What?"

"Hogwarts. I don't think we should go back to Hogwarts this year."

Sirius frowned. "What are you talking about, James? It's our last year. And honestly, I thought you liked the place."

"Exactly, Sirius, it's our last year and we've pretty much learned everything we need to know."

"Mate, maybe you should get some sleep,mate. You're talking crazy here."

He leaned forward to stand up but James said in a strong voice, "No, I'm not." He didn't speak for a moment while he gathered his composure and Sirius sat back down.

"There is a war going on Sirius. I know I like Hogwarts, I know I like Quidditch," he looked over the top of his glasses at his Nimbus 1000 as he said so and almost winced. "I know we have friends there and I know I'd enjoy another year-"

"Great, so would I. That's settled then. Goodnight James-"

"Listen to me! I like all those things but we can't ignore the fact that there's a war going on."

"Bloody hell, James, it always comes back to the war with you."

"Oh I'm sorry! But, you know, five Death Eaters did kinda show up at my house tonight and tortured my father for information and who bloody knows what else! Yeah, you're right, though, pretty unreasonable of me to be concerned about that!"

"You know that's not what I meant, James."

"Then what did you mean? That we should pretend it's not happening? That we should go back to Hogwarts and complete our last year because that would be the most enjoyable option while the rest of the continent struggles to keep Voldemort at bay? That-that-that we should just do _nothing_?"

"Of course that's not what I'm saying, you idiot! But what I do want to say, James, is that I understand your frustration. I understand your anger. I understand completely your desire to go out there and do something to stop this."

"Good, then let's!" James yelled tossing his hands in the air. Sirius put his hand to his head for a second sighing. He decided to try a new approach.

"James, I know your passion. I understand it. We've been friends for going on seven years now and I more than anyone else have a comprehension of your passion to fight this evil that is facing us. In fact, I _share_ it, James. But what you need to understand is that you can't let it take over. You can't let the war affect you that deeply. And I've seen you obsessing over it ever since that close call in London at the very beginning of the summer." He laughed shortly. "Even your dad doesn't read the Daily Prophet cover to cover each day. Mad-Eye Moody probably doesn't even do that."

"Most of it's becoming rubbish now anyway, according to Mum, so why would they?"

"I don't know. They're probably right. That's not the point though. The point is you're investing too much time into something that is only stressing you out and not doing any good for anyone. This shit you're saying about leaving Hogwarts- once again, I get that you want to fight. I get it. But we will get our time to fight, James. I promise. You know me mate; I'm not somebody who usually denies a bit of action or ever sits by, but trust me on this. Skipping seventh year is just as good as handing ourselves over as a parcel of butchered meat to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We aren't ready to handle them, mate. We need more practice, more skills. We need auror training. We're not going to be able to get any of that unless we do our last year at Hogwarts and unless we graduate."

They were quiet for a long moment. Sirius was content to sit in silence and let James think.

"I know you're right," he said quietly after almost ten minutes. Sirius didn't say anything. After another minute or two he continued. "And you are right. In June, outside King's Cross when those two Death Eaters showed up and started bothering us was a sort of breaking point for me."

"That's fair enough, mate."

"But it's not only for the reason you're probably thinking." He looked at Sirius, who waited. "It wasn't just because they were threatening and harassing Lily or because Snape was there." He had looked at the ceiling upon saying her name.

"It was more because that was the first time it had become real to me. Before then it was only really something we talked about or read about. That was the first time it had any kind of true effect on me. And I hated it. I hated not really being able to do anything. Just sort of having to stand there quietly and not provoke them. They weren't just like a nasty group of Slytherins that we could provoke. They were dangerous. I hated having just to stand there while they called Lily a Mudblood and laughed over the idea of raping her. It made me so angry. If Lily hadn't been stepping on my foot to stop me I can't tell you what I would've have done. I don't actually know if I would have done anything. I was scared." He looked at the rug on the floor. He knew that Sirius was likely the only person he would ever admit these things to. Even so, he was ashamed to say them.

"I don't condemn you for that, James. I grew up in the Black family. I was born into a family of disgusting dark wizards and Death Eaters who have been committing horrible crimes for centuries and getting away with it because they were part of the Black family- a pure blood family with loads of money. Murder, rape and theft were accomplishments to be talked about at the dinner table. Good for you, you fucked his wife and got away with. Congratulations on inheriting a fortune that didn't belong to you. You can't blame me for already having been exposed to those sorts of things. Trust me, I would have much rather had your childhood than mine. And while not all the Blacks are like that, most of them are. And the ones that aren't don't consider themselves to be part of the family anymore. Nor does the family acknowledge them. Like Dromeda who married that Muggle-born named Teddy Tonks or my uncle Alphard, for example. But it was hard telling wrong from right, especially before I started Hogwarts. At least then my family wasn't the only group of people who had influence over me."

"Your uncle Alphard is the one who used to send you bottles of firewhiskey when we were at school right?" James said grinning, his first smile of the evening which was rare to be so late in coming. Sirius grinned too.

"Yeah, he used to get so drunk at family dinners that he would start blabbing to everyone about the Muggle girl that lived on the farm next to his home in Ireland who he was in love with. He was always good for a laugh." They were quiet for a minute. "Speaking of firewhiskey, I really could use a drink."

"You know mum doesn't like it when we do," James huffed.

"Let's ask Teanish to slip us something."

James took out his wand and started fiddling with it but I didn't explicitly object to the idea. He could after all use the buzz after the stress of dinnertime.

Sirius took this as an okay. "Teanish," he said. The elf appeared straight away with the typical crack and immediately assumed the low but dainty bow that she always did.

"Master Black." James rolled his eyes. Teanish certainly did have a special liking for Sirius. It was growing more and more evident every day. It almost seemed to him like the elf had a crush on the bloke. She wouldn't, however, be the first. Far from it, James knew. The perplexing thing was that though Sirius had spoken so terribly of his own house elf, Kreacher, while he had still been living at home, he seemed awfully taken with Teanish.

"Teanish my darling, I have a small favour of you!"

"Anything for you, Master Black."

"Teanish, do you think you could manage to slip me and James another bottle of the good stuff?" His voice was rich. The same tone he used with girls at school,which James was all too familiar with.

Teanish's expression fell to one that looked as if her heart had just been broken and as if she might cry. Even as she next spoke she shook.

"Oh, Master Sirius, anything but that! Mistress Potter has asked Teanish to stop giving the boys liquor. Mistress Potter says that if she finds the boys drunk on the floor of Master Black's bedroom again that she will be giving out severe consequences. Forgive me, Masters, Mister Potter added that the consequences wouldn't be to Teanish." Her eyes were wide and warning.

Sirius laughed. "Okay, Teanish, you don't have to bring us any more liquor. But how about two butterbeers? Surely Mrs. Potter will approve of that?" He looked at James with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged.

"Butterbeer I believe to be perfectly fine, Master Sirius. All the alcohol boils out in the cooking, you see?" She disappeared with a crack and returned not ten seconds later holding two bottles and two mugs.

"Shall I set them here?" she asked, bringing them over to the coffee table in front of the fire.

"That's perfect! Thank you!" Sirius squeezed her shoulder gently making Teanish jump with a squeak out of surprise. She left with a final crack before she'd even come up from her bow.

Sirius flicked the caps off of each of the bottles lazily with his wand. Handing one to James, clinking it with his own and taking a large swig of it, he leaned back against the couch.

"Why do you always do that?" James asked curiously.

"Do what?"

"Talk to Teanish like she's a girl at school that you have to flirt with to get what you want."

"I don't," answered Sirius defensively, taking another long drink.

"Yes you do. She's a house elf. She'll do what you want no matter how you speak to her." Sirius shrugged and turned his stare to the fire.

"Kreacher have anything to do with it?"

"Maybe. I don't know, I just feel like I should be nice to her. I'm not even part of your family, truly, but she accepts we and treats me as if I am."

James looked at him. "We all do, Sirius. You know my mum and dad love you like their son. And," James continued with a famous grin, "I was an only child just until I went to Hogwarts and met you, brother."

"You sappy git!" he said grinning back, but the remark had really meant something to him. Straight away, Sirius felt a lot lighter.

They didn't speak as they finished the last few gulps of butterbeer. It may not have given James the buzz he had wanted but it had made him feel warm all the way through his body and this made him sleepy. It was getting on 12:30. He couldn't believe it had already been five hours since the Death Eaters had first showed up that night.

"Speaking of brotherhoods," Sirius started up again slowly, "Have you been in touch with Moony at all? I haven't had a single owl from him. Not that he's usually one to send loads."

James frowned. "I haven't. I would have mentioned it if I had. It is quite odd, isn't? I've gotten a few from Peter as have you, but none from Remus."

"Never mind Wormtail, even Lily Evans has sent you a bloody letter. And the world didn't even have to end for it to happen!" Sirius teased. While he laughed James threw a book at him which he blocked just in time to save his face.

"Easy, mate! I'll be needing this face to get the ladies in a couple weeks!"

James snorted. "I'm sure you will!" he said sarcastically. "As for Moony, I hope that his transformation went okay last week."

"I'm sure it went fine, Prongs, you worry too much. But something you should worry about is the fact that you haven't written Lily back yet and therefore Marly's annoying bird is going to keep you up all night!" Sirius laughed. "That is one bloody irritating owl."

"I'll write her before I go to bed."

"You still like her, right Prongsie?"

"Always." There were a few moments of silence following this. "How about you Padfoot? Planning to continue to fraternize with the enemy this year seeing as we are going back?"

"You mean the Ravenclaw girls? Hmm, maybe. I don't know just yet. But come on, James, they're hardly the enemy."

"Yes, they are!"

"Prongs, Ravenclaw beat us at two matches! And one was a scrimmage, not even actual season. You've gotta let it go, mate."

James shook his head. "No, this year we're going to practice harder than ever. If I'm going back to Hogwarts for one thing this year, it's for Quidditch. That means longer practices, harder drills, more team bonding."

"Mate, if we practice any more, we already do than we might as well give up classes, sleep, and meals and never leave the pitch! Actually, I could do without classes... and homework... but not sleep and certainly not food!"

"Well I've been doing some research and I-"

There was a pop and crackle from the fireplace and the image of Mrs. Potter's head appeared in the fireplace. Even though it appeared only to be projected in the flames, her features looked gaunt.

"James, Sirius, there's something wrong with your dad. He's in a lot of pain. The Death Eaters have done something he didn't originally suspect. We contacted Albus. He should be here any moment."

The boys didn't respond to Mrs. Potter. They didn't even look at each other. They simply ran out the door and down the three flights of stairs to where Mr. Potter could be found sitting in the parlour retching up blood and clutching a hand to his chest.

* * *

**N/A: Hope you enjoyed and come back for more with the next update! If you want to make my day, heck week, leave a review with your thoughts!**

**LOve,**

**Elysium**


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